Sustaining and Improving Learning Communities

Sustaining and Improving Learning Communities is the long awaited follow-up to the groundbreaking book Creating Learning Communities. The authors continue their exploration of the concept of learning communities as an innovation in undergraduate curricular instruction that allow students to actively participate in their own education, and deepen and diversify their college experience. Jodi Levine Laufgraben and Nancy S. Shapiro address a wide range of topics such as campus culture for sustaining learning communities, learning communities and the curriculum, pedagogies, and faculty development.

Preface xi

The Authors xvii

1 Introduction: The What and Why of Learning Communities 1

2 A Campus Culture for Sustaining Learning Communities 14
Anne Goodsell Love

3 Planning and Assessing the Curriculum 31

4 Pedagogy That Builds Community 54
Jodi Levine Laufgraben, Daniel Tompkins

5 Faculty Development 76

6 Developing Purposeful and Focused Assessment 97

7 Approaching Diversity Through Learning Communities 114
Emily Decker Lardner

8 Sustaining Living-Learning Programs 130
David Schoem

9 Next Steps: Expanding Our Understanding of Communities of Learning 157

References 173

Index 183

THE AUTHORS

Jodi Levine Laufgraben, formerly director of First-Year programs and the assistant vice provost for University Studies, is associate vice provost and director of Periodic Program Review at Temple University, Philadelphia.

Nancy S. Shapiro, founding director of the College Park Scholars Program, is the associate vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, at the University System of Maryland. They are the coauthors of Creating Learning Communities.

SUSTAINING & IMPROVING LEARNING COMMUNITIES

Sustaining and Improving Learning Communities is the long awaited follow-up to the groundbreaking book Creating Learning Communities. The authors continue their exploration of the concept of learning communities as an innovation in undergraduate curricular instruction that allow students to actively participate in their own education, and deepen and diversify their college experience. Jodi Levine Laufgraben and Nancy S. Shapiro address a wide range of topics such as campus culture for sustaining learning communities, learning communities and the curriculum, pedagogies, and faculty development.

"Learning communities have come of age. With their first volume Creating Learning Communities as a foundation, Laufgraben and Shapiro show how this important movement has become powerfully woven with other strands of undergraduate reform including diversity, assessment, and new forms of pedagogy. Together the two books are an unbeatable combination."
—Peter T. Ewell, vice president, National Center for Higher Education Management Systems

"Drawing on the authors' rich experience with learning communities in every sector of higher education, Sustaining and Improving Learning Communities is a must-read for faculty and academic administrators committed to using learning communities as a strategy for achieving deep, lasting, relevant, and transformative student learning experiences!"
—Louis S. Albert, president, West Campus-Pima Community College

"Chock-full of practical ideas, useful checklists and tables, and institutional case studies, this is a must-read for learning community directors, teachers, and anyone else wanting to improve college teaching and learning."
—Mary Stuart Hunter, director, National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, University of South Carolina